


Torture

by aravenwood



Series: Febuwhump '19 [6]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Caleb Widogast Needs a Hug, Gen, Pre-Canon, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-10-23 11:54:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17682956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aravenwood/pseuds/aravenwood
Summary: Guards discover Nott's friendship with Caleb and decide to use him against her.Written for the Febuwhump '19 prompt "torture".





	Torture

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, this is my first drabble for this fandom. I'm waaaaaay behind this campaign but I haven't been able to resist looking at some of the more recent episodes after fics have sparked my interest. This was also written a few weeks ago, before Nott's backstory reveal. Therefore this is now technically an alternate universe in which she was always a goblin.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Leave him alone!” Nott screamed as she clung to the bars which separated her from Caleb. She rattled on them, pressed her face so hard against them that it hurt. Tears slid down her cheeks and she had no idea if they were from fear for her boy or anger at the ones hurting him, or a mixture of both.

Caleb let out a long, drawn-out moan as one of the guards waved a burning stick dangerously close to his chest. He squirmed in the chair they’d tied him to, fighting against the ropes around his chest and arms. His eyes were squeezed tightly shut, but that didn’t hold in the tears which fell at almost the same time as Nott’s own.

He’d never told her why he was afraid of fire, but it was clear that he was terrified. Truly terrified in a way Nott had only seen in humans just before they became a meal. Seeing that written all over his face made Nott want to tear every single guard limb from limb. The bars between her and them were the only thing which stopped her.

She screamed in frustration, then again in full-blown anger. “How can you call me monster when you can torture an innocent man?” she accused, baring her teeth at them.

The guards laughed so hard them doubled over, including the one holding the flaming stick so close to Caleb. The fire waved dangerously, wafting from side to side and brushing Caleb’s chest. They blew briefly away, but returned to burn the human.

Caleb threw his head back and screamed, his eyes bursting open to stare sightlessly at the ceiling. His expression was one of pure panic, identical to the one which came after his nightmares, and Nott renewed her efforts to tear the bars from the wall.

The laughter from the guards tapered out. The one with the stick pulled it slowly away, his face bright with interest which only increased as Caleb’s screams quietened to heart-wrenching sobs. A slow smile grew on his lips. He pulled a dagger from his belt and held it close to the flame. “That’s the most noise \I’ve heard from him since we threw him in there – let’s hear it again, shall we?” he said with a sneer, his eyes locking with Nott’s. She tried to convey her promise of death with a single stare but he only laughed and passed the flaming stick to another guard, then pressed the side of his blade to Caleb’s neck.

Screams erupted from Caleb’s throat as his entire body stiffened against his bonds, before he started to fight and thrash in a desperate attempt to escape the source of his agony. He looked so desperately afraid and in so much pain that Nott found herself beginning to look away. Catching herself, she forced her gaze back to her struggling boy – this was her fault, she owed him this.

Of course the guards would have figured out how close she and Caleb were getting, of course they would learn that he could be used against her, that hurting her boy would hurt her too.

So of course they had to know that she would kill them the moment she and Caleb broke free.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
